Ignite The Fire

Tips…sorta. Tuesday…definitely

Not qualifying for the Games was the main thing on my mind in the week following the SoCal Regionals.  It was hard to move past the thoughts of inconsistent performances, mistakes, and failures.   Running things over in my mind, it felt like a waste of a weekend where I under-performed and disappointed myself as well as friends and family members who had come out to support me.   Most of the time I could fight those feelings back and remember that all competitions are a test and that what I can take away from this test was important regardless of the outcome.  

I want to share with you a letter to me from a future Crossfit star, and superfan of mine who is known lovingly as “Baby Katie Hogan” at her gym.  Paulina is a 7yr old from Crossfit Barracks who helped me gain a little perspective after Regionals.   I was so fortunate to meet her and have her cheer for me the whole weekend. 

Dear Katie,

I loved watching you at the regionals.  You did an awesome job.  My favorite part was the snatch WOD.  I told my dad you threw the bars up like a pretzel.  You made it look easy.  It was really hot but I stayed and watched every WOD.  The last WOD I learned that you never give up.  You will always be my favorite Crossfitter.  Always remember to have fun. 

My mom just bought me a new Rogue bar, maybe some day you can come to Crossfit Barracks and help me with my Oly.

Love,

Paulina (Baby Katie Hogan)

I cannot express how much reading this letter touched me.   It reminded me of how far I’ve come as an athlete.  Years add up fast; junior high and high school sports faded away into college and before I knew it, there I was on the court after my last game ever.  After graduating, Crossfit became my second chance at making sports my life.  Competing like this year after year, you forget where you started. 

Meeting Paulina and reading her letter reminded me of when I used to look up to high school sports stars, top college athletes, former Olympians and they all seemed like gods to me.   Reaching the level that I am at in Crossfit is a huge accomplishment that I just do not recognize on a regular basis.  Maybe I didn’t qualify for the Games this year, but I will continue to train and compete and represent the sport that I love.  

Take a look at how far you’ve come and how much you’ve achieved.  Remind yourself that what you do matters; you never know who could be watching and looking up to you.

Inspiration… on Tuesday.

Be great.  So much great.

Tips Tuesday-ish

I am a planner.  I like to make lists.  I have even made lists that includes “Make a ToDo List” on them.  So as an extreme over-planner I like to know what is going to happen.  Not so much with the minor details (such as tomorrow’s workout), but with the big stuff - like how I feel overall and what I should do with my life.   Unfortunately, those are sometimes things that can’t be planned or controlled.  Things happen and you have to find a way to move on. 

In the past year of training I have run into several roadblocks that have thrown me off track.  Because they were not part of my initial plan, these unexpected setbacks started to get inside my head.  I started to lose faith in myself and what I could accomplish.  It felt like things were out of my control. 

And they were.  But what I’m still realizing is that just because I can’t plan and control everything in my life, doesn’t mean that I’m failing.  These roadblocks felt like things I had to succumb to.  It seemed that I needed to admit defeat and stop letting it bother me.   “Why can’t you just get over it,” I kept asking myself.  My coach stopped me and said “It’s not about getting over it.  It’s about getting through it.”  What he explained was that getting “over it” would mean that I didn’t care, that I didn’t want better for myself, that I was satisfied with anything other than what I had been working so hard for.  So instead: get through it.  Keep moving forward, learn, adapt, grow, repair, but don’t just lay down and take it. 

Whether it’s training for the Crossfit Games or living your life, we all have to have goals and our plans in place to reach those goals.  The most successful people are the ones that keep that goal in sight no matter what comes at them. 

Show that you can do it, and don’t let anything stop you.

Tips on Friday….shut up

I know I hate it to.   It just doesn’t have the same ring.  What’s the point of blogging if you don’t use alliteration in your clever titles?   And who needs tips on a Friday!?  Nobody cares!!

Anyway, I’m days late (lame) but still just full of Tips!  OR I just like to hear myself talk…in my head…while I type….words.

Ok anyone else stressed out?  I love taking on tons of things so that there’s no way I can accomplish everything, thus setting myself up for failure, and finally crying over said failure.  I am repeatedly told by the more rational people in my life that this is something to “work on,” but really, when do we ever learn to slow down and live life away from all the stress? 

Here are “my” tips (that are really tips I’ve been told and that I have a hard time following so I decided to make a blog so I would be forced to read them and deal with this) to reduce stress:

-set boundaries for yourself

If you know you have tendencies to overschedule or underplan then establish guidelines to avoid that in the future.  Block out your schedule allowing enough time between activities and commitments.   That way when you go to fill things in you will have a realistic timeline to look at, rather than holding on to the illusion that you can fit it all in. 

-prioritize what needs to get done and when

Eliminate all the non-urgent, non-important stuff.  Just get rid of it.  Say no.   And as soon as you realize something becoming overwhelming or daunting, find a way to simplify it or get help with it.  Don’t let it snowball out of control and threaten to crush you alive.  That’s the worst.

-put yourself first

Everything else comes second.  That’s right.  Everything.  You are way more important than you will ever give yourself credit for. 

-schedule nothingness

This is time where there really is nothing for you to do.  Not go to the gym.  Not call your friend back.  Not research the hotel for the trip your planning.  Don’t do anything.  Do less.  Try it again, do less.  

Tips Tuesday

It’s Tuesday! I’m stuck in jury duty!  Blehhhhh….

Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to.  Whether it’s working
on a skill that we just can’t seem to nail down, OR sitting around all
day in a juror assembly room because your friends didn’t tell you that
you’re supposed to throw away your jury summons when they come in the
mail and not call in like a responsible nerd!

Anyway, we all know that Katie Hogan likes to lift heavy weights.  But
Katie Hogan is not in a “just lift heavy weights” sport - she’s in
Crossfit.  Hence, I too must do bodyweight exercises and gymnastics
skill-based workouts.  In fact, I do these more often than not since I
consider them to be my weakest area in Crossfit.  But as my good
friend and fellow super-strong girl Cat (CF Hillsboro) stated: it’s really
hard to get fired up for a gymnastics workout…especially when it’s
not your strong suit.

So what is the barbell-loving crossfitter to do?  Here are my 5 tips
for getting pumped to do a gymnastics (non weightlifting) workout:

-Pick one skill (or part of a skill) to focus on improving
If you go into the workout with a very specific objective (ex: head
through at the top of my hspus) then you can zero-in on that task
before each repetition and maintain focus.  Rather than getting
overwhelmed by the volume of reps or the difficulty of a particular
skill, I will avoid distraction and keep moving forward as long as I
can keep attacking that one point.

-Imagine yourself doing the movement(s) perfectly
Just like before a big lift, I will visualize what I want to
accomplish.  If I’m going for a 1RM snatch, I will close my eyes and
watch myself lifting the bar and catching it in the perfect position.
I want to mimic what I see, so I will play out multiple reps until I
am satisfied.  The same thing will work for, say, a muscle up.  I will
quickly imagine exactly how I want to execute the move and when I want
the biggest surge of power and hip extension.  Then I’m feeling the
intensity that I need and I will jump up and grab the rings.

-Create a gameplan before the workout of how to attack each round or exercise
Think about where you might slow down and what you can do to avoid
that.  Consider the smartest approach and the most aggressive
approach.  Try to find a medium between the two and formulate your
plan accordingly.  Once the clock starts, you are now focused on your
own agenda and sticking to it, rather than the thought of the workout
as a whole.  Thinking of it like a well-timed race can bring in an
element of intensity that was lost when you initially saw more
weaknesses than strengths listed for the workout.

-Set a realistic goal or expectation for what you want out of the workout
When I’m lifting I have my goal for the day planned out.  I know when
I’m trying to go heavy vs working technique or speed.  I know when I’m
trying to PR or go for longer unbroken sets.  With gymnastics or
bodyweight movements, I need to establish the same goals.  Am I
looking to PR in this workout and if so, in what form?  By going
faster than last time?  Maintaining proper form under high volume
training?  Working for longer sets of unbroken repetitions in a given
exercise?  Whatever the goal, it needs to be decided ahead of time so
that I am well-prepared and focused rather than just surviving the
workout.

-Talk to yourself
That’s right.  Turn on the crazy.  Anyone who has seen me lift knows
that I like to talk to myself…out loud.  It seems to turn off the
outside world and zero me in on the task of lifting the weight.  It
also fires me up like nobody’s business.  When I need to get back on
the wall for hspus or back on the rings for muscle ups or back upside
down for handwalking, I start talking to myself.  It’s mostly because
my body wants to rest and recover and not feel the burn and the
fatigue.  So I will start talking myself through the sets: “3 more,
you’re ok, let’s go.”  It’s so much better than: “you suck, why aren’t
you going yet, you should try not being so bad at this all the time.”
This way I’m forcing myself to rest less which is my #1 problem in
gymnastics workouts.  I will literally scare the reps out of myself.
When I need it I will get louder until I’m shouting “GO! NOW!” at
myself to get back to it and finish the set.

Ultimately, the design of Crossfit is to be as good as possible in as
many different tasks as possible.  The only way to do this is to keep
attacking your weaknesses with the same intensity you bring to your
strengths, whatever they may be.  Remember that while it’s ok to focus
on technique outside of a workout, without intensity in those
movements you will never see the results you want.  So dig in and get
after it - whether you like it or not!

Alright I’m going to go destroy jury duty!

Tips Tuesday

It is the foundation of functional movement.  It is the backbone of Crossfit.  What’s likely the first exercise every new crossfitter needs to master?

The squat.

As I spend more time coaching and watching my athletes move I try to find new ways of relaying cues and getting them to understand everything that is involved when they squat.  Before I squat there are certain warm-ups and mobilzations that I just won’t do without.  I have also collected the series of reminders that I need in order to focus on my form, but still bring the intensity.

Here are my 4 tips for when you are getting ready to squat…

-Staying tight in the mid section

This cue of core or midline stabilization is a key factor in any functional movement.  What I tell my athletes is for them to create an imaginary weight belt around their waist.  In order to turn it on they must activate their abdominals.  The image of the weight belt often helps with the understanding that the strength in their core is what is responsible for protecting their spine and maintaining their position. 

-Big breath and hold

As a part of the tightening down of the core, I will coach athletes to take a big deep breath and hold it.  May sound simple enough, but many beginning athletes will not pay much attention to when (or if) they breathe.  This always reminds me of one of my closest friends and former college volleyball teammates who was an extremely aggressive and intense player.  She had all the talent of a top level athlete, but everyday in practice our coach had to remind her to breathe!  It was hilarious, yet a good reminder for me that even the most focused athlete may miss a key step…like breathing air. 

-Load and explode

Ok we know I love alliteration when I write, well coaching cues that rhyme are like my next favorite thing.  We started saying “load and explode” at Valley Crossfit years ago.  I love it, yes, because it rhymes, and it creates the imagery you need for a successful squat.  Essentially when you are lowering the weight from the supported top position, you should imagine a metal spring that is being compressed down and is ready to pop up strong and fast. 

-Knees out; powerful, quick hips

Coming up out of the bottom of the squat you need to concentrate on forcing your knees apart rather than letting them carry you forward and onto your quads.  Likewise, you need to utilize that aggressive hip extension to essentially “jump” that weight up to your full upright position at the top.  While heavier weights might feel like they’re slowing you down, there is nothing slow about jumping.  So although you may appear to be struggling with a lift, every part of you is thinking “speed” as you drive through your heels to the top.

Tips (that fall after) Tuesday

So it’s the final week of the 2012 Crossfit Games Open – was it everything you thought it would be?  Now that the end is in sight, there is one last workout in front of you.   Will you reach all of the goals you set for yourself at the start of the Open?  Regardless of how the past four weeks have gone for you, this is your chance to finish strong.  No sitting out the final week!  That would be like eating a tres leches cake made with only dos of the tres leches!  You want to celebrate the end of the Open?  Then send it off with a grand finale.

Here are my 3 tips (yeah just 3, I’m running low on tip-energy so late in the Open…) to go into the final workout with everything you’ve got:

-Go after Regionals

If you’re close to qualifying for the top 60 in your region, then make the push and reach for that spot.  For those who are already in position to make it to Regionals, think about going into them in the best position possible.  Your placement in the Open will affect the first heat you compete in at Regionals, so you might as well go for it. 

-Make it the best Open you can

If this is the end of your Crossfit Games competition experience, then enjoy this last week for what it is: a chance to test yourself against the entire world of crossfit athletes.   Stay tough and fight until the end.  Dig into that competitive spirit that was there at the start of the Open and get the most out of this last workout. 

-Let it loose

No reason to hold back now; stand up and lay it all on the line.  This may be your final chance to compete against the world for another year, so fire up, scream, laugh, go crazy!  It’s Fran x Infinity – who DOESN’T want a piece of that?  As they say “Fran is more afraid of you, than you are of her.”  It’s time to intimidate and dominate.  Put on your compression pants and get after it.

PS – 3 Bonus points awarded to whoever can guess the two nouns in this blog that I was dared to add in somewhere.